Thank you so much for the great feedback on the last chapter! I absolutely LOVE reading your reviews!

As always, big hugs to my pre-readers MrsK1981 and SparklyMeg and my beta's Marly 580 and Mauigirl60. They help make this fic, and I owe them so much.

Pattinlethr continues to be my rock – I'm counting down the days!

EPOV

He twitches in his seat and waits as I take mine behind my desk.

I lean forward, resting my elbows on my desk, and focus on the almost-stranger sitting in front of me. "So, care to tell me what the hell you're doing here, Mike?"

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"Straight to the point, huh?" He chuckles nervously.

"What—you think I want to sit here and play catch up with my girlfriend's ex?" I roll my eyes. "You wanted to speak to me, remember? Now get on with it." I lean back in my seat and cross my arms. "Why do you want to talk about Bella?"

"Is she okay?"

I frown. "What sort of question is that?"

He sighs and glances at me uneasily. "I don't know how to tell you all this without you punching me."

"Only one way to find out," I mutter.

He closes his eyes before speaking, and I know I'm really not going to like what he has to say. But, then again, I knew that the second I saw him in my club.

"I know about her stalker," he blurts out.

I'm up and out of my seat before I can even think. "What?" I growl. He shrinks back in his chair, repeatedly glancing between me and the office door as I approach him. "What do you know about that?"

"I…uh…"

"Spit it out!" I bang my hands on the desk. "How do you know about her stalker?"

He sighs, leaning forward and resting his head in his hands. "Because I know who her stalker is."

I must have misheard him.

"How…I don't…." It suddenly dawns on me. There's only one way he could know who the stalker is.

"It's you!" I whisper.

He shakes his head quickly, fear evident in his eyes.

"You better start talking quick, because I'm finding it real difficult not to hit you right now!" I snarl.

"It's not me." He sighs and hangs his head. "But it may as well be."

"What the hell does that even mean?"

"It's a long story," he mumbles.

"Gimme the Cliffs Notes version then."

He surprises me by getting out of his seat and begins pacing in the office. I keep my eyes locked on him. I wouldn't put it past him to make a run for it just to avoid this whole confrontation.

"Mike..."

He holds his hands up. "Let me think. It's kinda off-putting with you watching me like you want to rip my head off."

"I do want to rip your head off!" I bark impatiently, "but I promise I'll let you talk."

"Right." He nods. "Okay, short version. I suppose it started the night I met you."

I frown; that was months ago. "At Bella's apartment?"

He chuckles. "Yeah. I'm not sure how much Bella has told you about us."

I shrug, but don't say anything—he's here to talk, not listen.

When he sees that I'm not going to give him anything, he continues. "Not that it matters. Okay...well, to be honest, I was an idiot. I had a good thing with Bella and I messed it up, but I thought I could get away with it. We'd had our fights but she always took me back." He rightfully looks a little ashamed. "So, when this pretty blonde started talking to me. I didn't even think twice. I thought I could sleep with her without Bella ever finding out."

Rage pulses through me as I listen to him. How can anyone think it's ever okay to treat another person like that? Like her feelings are nothing—that they don't even matter?

He pauses, watching as I walk back behind my desk. At least with the desk between us, I won't be so tempted to kick his ass.

"Keep going," I say when he doesn't continue.

"Yeah...right...okay. Well, when Bella caught me and threw me out, I figured she just needed some time and that she'd take me back." He shakes his head. "God, I was such an idiot," he mutters.

I roll my eyes. "Mike, you're not exactly telling me anything new here. Why don't you skip to the part about you having something to do with my girlfriend's stalker?"

He sighs. "Something changed in me that night. I didn't know how much I'd messed up until I saw her, but seeing her so unaffected about our split made me realize just how much I'd taken her for granted. I couldn't let someone like Bella slip through my fingers. I loved her."

I study him as he paces back and forth in front of my desk. His cheeks are flushed and his hair is sticking up in all directions—the result of running his hands through it repeatedly.

"So, you wanted her back?" I ask.

He nods. "Yeah…in the beginning, anyway. I was so pissed that she went out and found someone new, you know? She was meant to stay at home, pining and waiting for me. Instead, she was going out on dates with you." He looks at me with grim eyes. "I wanted to get her back."

I try to rein it in, but anger bubbles up inside me. My voice is even and controlled, but he still steps back, sensing my fury. "So—what? You thought terrorizing us would be the answer?"

"I didn't say it was a smart idea, okay?"

I wait impatiently as he walks around my office. He seems to have forgotten about the story for a few minutes while he picks up random bits and pieces that he finds. I'm two seconds away from snapping before he continues.

"It sounds so stupid now. I...I thought...in my head, she was the one who was wrong and I was the one being mistreated." He shakes his head humorlessly. "Anyway, I went out that night and got blind drunk. I just wanted to forget."

I stand up quickly, my seat thrown back by the movement. "So all of this was because you were jealous? You thought you could just fuck around and Bella would be at your beck and call?"

He flinches. "When you say it like that, it sounds awful—"

"It is awful!" I snap. "You're lucky she even glanced in your direction, nevermind actually dated you."

He nods. "I know. I can see that now."

I encourage him to continue. "So you went out and got drunk. I assume your story doesn't end there?"

"No."

I pull the chair over and sit back down. The urge to attack this guy has gone. For now.

"I was so pissed off at her. I mean, I know I was in the wrong, but I figured she'd have thought herself lucky to date someone like me." I roll my eyes at his pigheadedness but don't say anything. "My aim that night was to get as drunk as I could and meet a pretty girl to take home. I wanted to prove I could do better than Bella Swan."

"You—"

"I know, I know," he says quickly. "Not my proudest moment."

Understatement.

"Anyway." He glances at me cautiously, making me dread what's coming. "That's the night I met Lauren again."

Dread creeps through my veins and settles in my stomach. Breathing becomes difficult as I try to gasp for air.

It can't be.

My mind flashes back over the last few months: the night at the club, the day at the country club with my parents, and then the state of Bella's apartment after it'd been broken into.

My stomach churns as I remember the look on Bella's face when I told her to leave. She looked heartbroken and defeated when I blamed our downfall on her. I couldn't even get past my own insecurities to see that it was me and my fucked-up history that had caused all this.

I close my eyes, willing the image away.

"Oh, shit," I mumble. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!"

Suddenly, the fact that Bella's in another state becomes too much. I need her. I need her to see that I'm sorry, that it was all a mistake and I've been such an idiot to let her go. Her walking out of my apartment is possibly the worst thing to ever happen to me.

"Agh!" My chair falls behind me as I lunge forward, pushing the papers from my desk onto the floor.

My brain is on overload, but part of me is aware of Mike, standing frozen like a sculpture next to the door. If I wasn't so pissed at him, I'd be laughing. His hand is on the door handle, and I know he's seconds away from running.

"We're not done yet!" I growl.

"I can...I can come back," he stutters.

I snort. "You think you're going anywhere after you just shared that bit of information?" I point back toward his chair. "Sit down and talk faster." He waits a few moments before he—very smartly—listens to what I say.

With my seat on the floor for the second time tonight, I forego it and lean on the desk instead.

"Are you all right?"

"What do you think?" I snap.

"Right, sorry," he mumbles pathetically.

I'm growing impatient. "Can you just get on with it? You ran into Lauren, then what? You guys sat around, plotting against me and Bella?"

"Um, not at the beginning."

"But you did try to split us up?"

He nods. "Not to start out with. In the beginning, it was just about the sex for us."

I shudder, because that's a visual I do not need.

"We both wanted to forget. You'd thrown Lauren out and moved on, and Bella had kicked me out on my ass and found you. It was meant to be a one-time thing, but we both just kept going back for more."

"I fail to see how your pathetic excuse for a sex life impacts my relationship. Can we skip the graphics and get to the part where you decided to screw us over?"

He shakes his head and sighs. "She just snapped. I don't know how or when, but she did."

I wait. He's not telling me anything I don't already know.

"We'd called things off, but then one night, she showed up at my place. She was a mess, man. She'd been drinking most of the night and she was rambling about you and Bella. Anyway, we got to talking, and she started telling me about this plan she had."

"Keep going."

"It made sense, you know? We would split you two up, Bella would come back to me, and Lauren would get you."

I scoff. "Get me?"

He smiles sadly. "Yeah, she had this notion that with Bella gone, you'd realize leaving her was a mistake."

The smile fell from his face, his expression slowly changing to a grimace. He glances nervously around the office as he looks anywhere but at me.

"Then things just changed. She became so invested in you. She was going to your club and freaked out when she wasn't allowed back in. Then she started following Bella. She didn't do anything—she'd just watch her."

Anger pulses through me as I listen to this delusional asshole try and try to justify stalking my girlfriend. Everything he tells me makes me wish I'd never laid eyes on Lauren. Even now, two years later, she creeps into my life and refuses to leave, no matter how hard I try.

"Then it just became too much. My anger at you and Bella faded, and I was happy to move on. I saw you two together walking Jake one day, and you both looked so happy. I didn't want to get in between that. When I mentioned that to Lauren, she flipped out." He snorts. "I'm sure I still have some of the scratch marks to show for that."

"Forgive me if I don't feel sorry for you," I mutter.

He glances up at me. "I wasn't asking..."

I cut him off. "Whatever. So what happened then?"

"Well, I wanted out. I told her I didn't want anything to do with her plan, but she wouldn't let me—"

"Wouldn't let you? You're a grown man, for Christ's sake!"

"I know." He shakes his head. "But you don't know what she's like."

I don't say anything. I, of all people, know exactly how Lauren can manipulate someone.

"She kept saying she'd tell everyone what we planned, but that she'd pin it all on me. She said she could do it; that she knew people with the money and the power to make it happen." He looks up at me with a desperate look on his face. "I couldn't let that happen."

"So, what? You just went along with it, putting me and Bella in danger?"

He has the decency to at least look ashamed. "I didn't know what else to do."

"You didn't know what else..." I stare at him in disbelief. "What you should have done was go to the cops, like any other respectable person would've done."

"I couldn't. They wouldn't have believed me. She's right—she has money and she knows the right people. The cops wouldn't have even listened to me."

"You're such a chickenshit, you know that? You did this to save your own ass, yet give me the excuse that Lauren made you do it."

Before he can come up with another shitty answer, there's a commotion at the office door. I forgot I'd locked it, making sure Mike couldn't leave.

"Edward?" Emmett yells, pounding on the door.

I point at Mike. "Stay right there, we're not done."

I open the door to find Emmett, mid-knock, a scowl on his face. "What the hell?"

"Sorry, I got caught up."

"Well, we're getting slammed out there. Think you can play catch-up later?"

I nod. "Yeah, gimme a few minutes. We're almost done."

Emmett frowns and looks at Mike warily. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'll talk to you about it later."

"Okay." He still looks unsure, but leaves anyway.

I take my seat again, needing to have the desk between us. "Do I need to lock the door again?" I ask him.

"No. We're good."

"We're far from good!" I bark.

Needing to do something, I pick up my cell and dial Bella's number. I've avoided speaking to her on the phone for so long, but after learning about Mike and Lauren today, I have to hear her voice. I need to apologize and at least know that she's okay. I don't want to wait. I want to sort everything out now.

Unsurprisingly, her cell goes straight to voicemail; either due to the late hour, or the fact that it's me calling.

Resigned, I throw the cell on my desk. I need to focus on one thing at a time. As soon as I get this shit straight with Mike and get all the details about Lauren, I'll be on my way to see Bella.

"So?" I question Mike. "What made you decide to finally do the right thing?"

He shrugs. "I should've done it a long time ago. Now, she's just getting weird. At first I thought she was harmless. But now…"

I lean forward. "What?"

"She's just obsessed. And, she hasn't exactly said she'd do anything, but…"

"But what?" I growl. "Is Bella in danger?"

"I don't know," he confesses. "Lauren just seems so set on splitting you two up, and I'm not sure what she'll stop at."

My heart plummets to my stomach as the words leave his mouth. I only found out hours ago that my ex is my girlfriend's stalker, and now Bella's in danger because of it?

How unstable is Lauren?

The thought of Lauren getting anywhere near Bella scares the shit out of me. I know Bella's been strong in the past, but I don't know how she'd cope when faced with my crazy ex. A simple run-in with her at my parents' country club had her shaken. And if Lauren is as crazy as Mike says, then I need to act fast.

There's no way I can wait until she comes back from her work trip. I have to go see her. She needs to know how sorry I am for messing things up, and how much I need her in my life. I'm not willing to let this shit drive a bigger wedge between us.

I glance at the clock, and I'm relieved to see it's almost closing time. If I can convince Emmett to let me leave as soon as the doors close, I can make it to the airport in time to be on the first flight to LAX.

"The only thing stopping me from beating you like you deserve is the fact that you need to go to the cops. You know that, right?"

He visibly gulps and nods. "I know," he whispers. He clears his throat before speaking again. "For what it's worth, I'm really sorry."

I roll my eyes. "Mike, your words pretty much mean shit to me right now. You're only doing this because your conscience got the better of you and you're worried about how much trouble you could get into. You don't give a shit about Bella."

He doesn't say anything, but then, he doesn't have to. If he did care, we wouldn't be here in the first place.

"C'mon, you're staying in the bar where I can see you."

We leave the office, and I find Emmett standing at the edge of the dance floor. When he sees us, he comes straight over.

"I called Rose," he explains as he glares at Mike. "What does he want?"

"We had a nice little catch-up," I say, patting Mike on the shoulder. "He was just enlightening me some more about Lauren."

"Lauren?" He groans. "What now?"

"Go on, tell him."

Mike shrinks as Emmett stares him down. If I wasn't so pissed at him, I'd find this entertaining. Emmett's purposely puffing out his chest, his arms folded in front of him, making himself look a few inches taller. Mike, rightly intimidated, visibly shrinks back before answering.

"She's Bella's stalker."

"And?" I prompt.

"A-and…" he stutters. "And she's been trying to split them up."

Emmett forms his hands into fists, and I have to step between them before he pummels Mike.

"He's going to the police."

"A lot of good that does now!" he growls, taking another step toward Mike.

I put my hands against Emmett's chest, stopping him from taking another step. "We need him to go to the police, Emmett."

"So you're just going to let him get away with this?"

"He's not getting away with anything. He's staying here until we close and then you're taking him to the cops."

He snapped his eyes up to me. "Wait, I'm taking him?"

"Um, yeah. I need you to take him for me."

He looks suspicious. "Why? What aren't you telling me? Where are you going?"

For the first time tonight, I smile. "I'm going to California."

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Thankfully, Emmett agrees that flying to California and begging for forgiveness is a good idea and has my back. As I drive home, Emmett is taking Mike to the nearest police station where he can spill his guts. After that, I don't give a shit what happens to him. He can rot there, for all I care.

The sights of Seattle pass in a blur as I focus on Bella. I don't try her cell again—knowing it's a lost cause—but my thoughts are still full of her. Will she be happy that I'm flying out to see her? Or will she kick my sorry ass back on a plane?

Even though I should be tired and ready to pass out, my heart is hammering and I know I can kiss sleep goodbye tonight.

The apartment is eerily quiet, and I try to ignore how empty—how wrong—it feels without Bella here. Nothing has felt right since the day she left me.

When I arrive home, the first thing I do is boot up the laptop and search for the first flight to LAX. My prayers are answered when I find a red-eye that still has seats available. I book them as quickly as I can, not caring about the cost, and then throw some stuff into an overnight bag.

There's not much point in my going to bed since I'll need to be at the airport soon, but I do decide to grab a shower.

Even seeing the empty shower stall is like a kick to the stomach. What used to be cluttered with Bella's things—her shower gel, shampoo and other bits and pieces—now only holds my basic necessities. Even though it's been days, I swear I can still smell the coconut from her lotion, and the fresh smell from her shower gel.

Turning toward the spray, I dip my head under the hot water and focus my attention on my upcoming plan, rather than overthinking our past. That shit just hurts. At least if I focus on our future, I know there's hope.

I stay in probably longer than I should, but I need to wake up. After the last few days and a busy shift at the club, fatigue is starting to hit. When the water begins to cool, I finally turn it off and step out.

I've barely turned the water off when I hear an incessant pounding at the front door. I roll my eyes, thinking I've become the victim to some drunk who's knocking on the wrong front door, but I startle when I hear a male voice yelling my name.

I quickly wrap one of the white towels around my waist, not bothering to dry off, and scramble to answer the door.

Dread sits deep in the pit of my stomach as I imagine a variety of things that could cause someone to be knocking on my door and yelling my name at four o'clock in the morning.

Did something happen to Emmett and Mike?

Is it something at the club?

I fling the door open, coming face-to-face with Bella's boss.

He's soaked to the bone, his cell in one hand and the other in mid-air, as if he were attempting to knock again.

"Edward, you're home! Thank God!"

His tone makes my blood run cold, and I know then that something's wrong.

My legs give way as I crumble to the floor.

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Um…Still with me?